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Postal Service: NAICS 491

About the Postal Service subsector

The postal service subsector is part of the transportation and warehousing sector.

The Postal Service subsector includes the activities of the National Post Office and its subcontractors operating under a universal service obligation to provide mail services, and using the infrastructure required to fulfill that obligation. These services include delivering letters and small parcels. These articles can be described as those that can be handled by one person without using special equipment. This allows the collection, pick-up, and delivery operations to be done with limited labor costs and minimal equipment. Sorting and transportation activities, where necessary, are generally mechanized. The restriction to small parcels distinguishes these establishments from those in the transportation industries. These establishments may also provide express delivery services using the infrastructure established for provision of basic mail services.

North American Industry Classification System

The postal service subsector consists of a single industry group, Postal Service: NAICS 4911.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in postal service. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry , data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2023
First-line supervisors/managers of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators	4,890
Postal service clerks	78,130
Postal service mail carriers	331,600
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	116,520
Postmasters and mail superintendents	13,810

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Earnings

Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in postal service.

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
First-line supervisors/managers of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators	38.27	38.93	79,600	80,980
Postal service clerks	28.64	28.48	59,570	59,240
Postal service mail carriers	27.08	28.53	56,330	59,340
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	25.69	27.10	53,440	56,360
Postmasters and mail superintendents	42.63	43.16	88,670	89,770

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities in postal service.


Data series	2016	2017	2018	2019
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	14	21	17	21
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Producer price index	(p)319.548	(p)319.548	(p)322.549	(p)322.549
Percent change from previous month	(p)6.1%	(p)0.0%	(p)0.9%	(p)0.0%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in postal service. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments


Data series	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Federal government	29,677	29,721	(p)29,793	(p)29,741
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked. Growth in unit labor costs represent the annual change in the labor cost of producing one unit of output.


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Labor productivity, output per hour	1.0	-3.5	-5.3	-5.7
Hours worked	0.1	1.4	-0.8	-2.3
Output	1.1	-2.2	-6.0	-7.9
Unit labor costs	0.5	-0.3	7.3	17.1

(Source: Productivity)

Data extracted on: December 12, 2024